Kids
by Sissytobitch10seconds
Summary: The Avengers have been through a lot. But they may be facing their biggest challenge yet- training a bunch of teenagers.
1. Prologue

**Welcome! There are a lot of OC's in this, but I hope you don't mind. I'm so excited for you guys to be reading this. There are a couple triggers that I think you guys should know about, just in case.**

 **Racial slurs, LGBT+ slurs, eating disorders, depression, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, suicide attempt, mental hospitals, PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks**

 **These are just a few so far and I will be sure to tag exact triggers in the notes before each chapter.**

 **Please be nice, this is my first fic dealing with these kinds of issues.**

 **Last, but not least, please enjoy and tell me what you think!**

 **Stay sissy and bitchy everyone! 3**

"Wait," Tony said, his arms were crossed firmly over his puffed out chest. "How many kids?"

Fury sighed, rubbing his forehead as he reiterated what he had been trying to tell the team of superheroes for the last hour and a half. "Four, Stark. Four superpowered kids," he said, looking the shorter man dead in the eyes.

"And why do you think that we're equipped for this?" the Sorcerer Supreme asked from where he was sitting on the couch. His fingers were threaded together as he rested his chin on his hands, looking darkly at the rest of the team.

"I don't," the man said, standing from his position on the couch. "These kids are scared, they don't know how to handle what they have. They could be very dangerous if they were to fall into the wrong hands."

"C'mon Sam, we can do this," Scott joked, punching his boyfriend's shoulder playfully.

"You can," Sam said back, wrapping his arm around the other man's waist, bringing him in closer. "You already have one of the gremlin's."

"Cassie is not a gremlin," Scott laughed, planting a kiss on Sam's cheek. "She is a perfect little angel."

"Which is why she runs around screaming until midnight every day," Tony snarked, grabbing his whiskey off of the table. Scott chuckled deeply as he leaned on his boyfriend.

Fury sighed, glowering at the team as they sassed at each other back and forth. "Alright," he said over the quips. "Lang, Hope," he said, turning to the two newest Avengers.

"Yes?" Hope asked, the smile falling from her face as she looked up to the director.

"I'll be bringing her tomorrow. Stark, you're kid'll be by on Wednesday. Thor, Valerie will come and stay with you tomorrow as well. Strange," he sighed, turning to the last member of the party. "I can almost ensure that your teenager will come on Thursday. Everyone understand?"

"Almost insure?" Stephan asked, his dark, angry eyes now pointed directly at the man. The glaze that had been covering them melted away, revealing the true sinister expression.

"You'll find out when you meet her," Fury sighed. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he bayed them all goodbye, finally being released from having to talk to them.

"Four kids," Tony sighed, collapsing down into his spot on the sofa.

"It's not that bad," Scott shrugged, weaving his hands through Hope's hair playfully. She swatted at his arm, causing him to pull back and pout.

"Leave my girlfriend alone," Natasha growled playfully as she grabbed the black-haired woman, pulling her up onto her lap.

"Woah," Hope laughed, smiling down at the red-haired assassin.

"Blech, such PDA," Scott made a face, teasing his friend.

"You're one to talk!" Hope shot back.

"How dare you," Scott said, mocking offense.

"That's enough outta you," Sam grumbled, grabbing his boyfriend's hand and dragging him out of the room with an excuse about needing to check up on Cassie tumbling off his lips.

"Are they really making us take care of a bunch of kids?" Tony groaned.

"It's not like they're going to be living with us, Tony," Steve offered, walking behind his boyfriend.

"They might as well be," he growled.

"They're spending one day a week with each of us," Hope reminded him.

"Almost all of us," Bruce piped up from where he was sitting next to Thor.

"I don't see why you got off Scott free," Tony scoffed.

"Because he is marvelous," Thor shouted, puffing out his chest proudly as he spoke about his boyfriend.

"You either," Tony glared up at his own significant other.

"I'll there to help you, every step of the way," Steve smiled, pressing a kiss to Tony's forehead.

"You better, or else you're sleeping on the couch," the superhero growled. This caused a laugh to arise from the room, which died down as they went back to quipping back and forth at each other.

Only Stephan remained quiet, mulling over the fact that he would have to teach a student that may not even show up the day that she was supposed to.

It was an adventure to be had, they all knew that for certain.


	2. Chapter One: Tuesday

**Triggers: Purging, eating disorders, bulimia, anorexia, slurs, bullying, and fighting**

 **A/N: If you find any more triggers, please PM me so that I can put them in the above, thank you and enjoy!**

Ava leaned over the toilet, her mouth open in a gag as she tried to keep what little was left in her stomach down. "Fuck," she whispered, leaning her head against the lid of the toilet, despite it being one of the most disgusting things in her home. She whimpered in pain, placing a hand on her lower torso as best she could despite the glitches.

"Ava?" her adopted father asked, his voice muffled by the heavy wood of the door.

"Yeah?" she called back, her British accent sticking out a bit more with her distress.

"You're going to be late for school," he reminded her gently.

"I'll be right out," she called, forcing cheerfulness into her voice.

"Alright," she can hear the smile in the elderly man's voice. "Don't forget your lunch today."

"I won't!" she chirped fakely. The thought of any kind of food made her sick, causing her to gag one last time before she forced herself off the floor. She flushed down the sick and turned to the sink, making it look like she was perfectly fine as opposed to having just finished vomiting.

"Bye Papa," she said, kissing him on the cheek as she slung her backpack over her shoulder, rushing out of the house.

"Ava! You forgot your lunch!" he called after her as she raced down the hall. She pretended to be too far away to understand him, instead just turning around and waving before entering the stairwell.

"Sorry Papa," she whispered, running down the stairs. Her hand graced over the cold railing that was attached to the wall as she stumbled down flight after flight of stairs. She was almost all the way down the staircase when her hand fazed through the railing, causing her to pull it away like it had burned her. She glanced up the stairs, making sure that no one saw her before she continued down her way. "You've got to get this under control," she muttered to herself as she opened the door to the outside.

She darted around the few people that were out on the streets, trying to make sure that they didn't touch her. Her backpack was heavy on her shoulder as she struggled to keep her grasp on it. She stopped short as the bus pulled up at its normal stop. She sighed, readjusting the bag on her back before she hefted herself onto the large metal death trap. The entire bus was overly full of people, leaving only a couple seats at the very back empty. The majority of the people on the bus were students, ranging from elementary to college in ages.

Her eyes darted from person to person before she spotted her friend. She plopped down next to him, pushing at his leg to move over a small bit. "Why are you like this?" he growled, moving so that he was laying against the window.

"You still love me," she smirked, taking off her backpack and placing it where his leg once was.

"I guess," he said, tossing his head over to look at his friend.

"What's wrong?" she pouted.

"Nothing, I just didn't sleep very well last night, (I was on patrol,)" he answered.

"Why?" Ava asked, her eyebrows knitting together with concern.

He stayed silent for a moment, rocking his head from side to side as he chose his words carefully. "Val was really busy last night. I don't think she and her latest fling have been doing so well."

"She loves the fucked up ones, doesn't she?" Ava sighed, tugging one of her legs up so that it was pressed against her small breasts.

"Yeah, but she's pretty fucked up herself," Peter sighed, the swear words earning them a stern glare from some of the older folk on the bus.

"Yeah, I guess," Ava shrugged, her stomach growled audibly, causing both her and Peter to frown deeply.

"Did you eat anything this morning, Ava?" he asked, turning to look at her for the first time that morning.

"Maybe," she lied through her teeth, averting her eyes down to the rip of her jeans just above her kneecap.

"I thought you had gotten better about that," he grumbled, moving his backpack onto his lap and unzipping the front pocket.

"And I thought you had gotten better about remembering to only bind with a binder," she sassed back, referring to when she had caught him with ace bandages in his backpack. He turned to her, glaring a small bit as he took out what he was looking for. The granola bar wrapper crinkled in his hands as he shoved it at her chest.

"I'll buy a binder if you eat the fucking granola bar," he growled, his eyes narrowing at his friend. She mimicked his words as she took the granola bar from him, flipping it over so that she could see how many calories it had. "Just eat it, Ava, please."

She sighed, her shoulders falling. "Okay, okay," she nodded, she opened the breakfast food. She took a bite, chewing it roughly with a sour expression on her face. She swallowed roughly, trying to force the food down her dry throat. Once she had repeated that process over and over again until the entire thing was done, Peter gave her a happy, yet tired smile.

"Thank you," he smiled. He leaned his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes. She sighed, leaning her head on top of his, allowing her eyes to close as well as her stomach rolled with panic. The food in her gut did not sit with her as well as she would have hoped, but she knew that Peter would be able to tell if she were to purge the granola bar he had given her. The bus shook as it rattled down the street, causing Ava to open one of her eyes. She glared at everyone that had dared lay their eyes on the pair while they 'slept.'

The bus came to a jerky stop as it pulled up somewhere near to the school that they went to. "Peter, you need to wake up," Ava whispered, shaking her friend awake gently. He groaned, wrinkling his nose as his eyes fluttered open. She shouldered her backpack and stood up, walking off the bus with the heard of high school students that had been riding with them. As soon as she got off, she felt her stomach roll again, causing her face to turn a sickly pale green color.

"You okay?" Peter asked as he stepped down to the disgusting concrete. She only nodded, not daring to open her mouth just yet as she shoved the food that threatened to return back down to her stomach.

"The issue makes it hard to keep things down sometimes," she sighed, moving her backpack slightly as the sun began to beat down on them.

"You'll get better though, especially if tonight can help you," Peter said, knocking their shoulders together. She smiled weakly back at him as her body ached with pain.

"Why does everything have to hurt?" she whimpered, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "It never goes away."

"The pain meds don't help do they?" he asked, his face distorted in a frown. It only deepened as she shook her head, "Maybe they'll help this time?" he asked.

"I might as well try," she sighed, shifting her backpack again. Peter turned his backpack so that he could get inside of it and it only took a moment before he handed Ava the small, red pill that he had been searching for. She took it from him, placing it in her mouth and swallowing it dry like she had gotten so used to doing.

"There's Ned and MJ," Peter chirped, waving over their other two friends. Ava grimaced as her throat tried to reject the pill, through she forced it down anyways.

"Hey guys," Ned smiled his big, goofy grin at the two superpowered teens. Ava gave him a smile that looked more like a grimace while Peter beamed back at him.

"Hey Ned, hey MJ," he greeted. MJ looked up from her phone for a minute nodding her head at her friend before her eyes looked straight back down at the device.

"Ava, you look awful," MJ said, lifting her head from the phone again as she looked back to her friend.

"I hurt pretty bad today," Ava explained, forcing herself to continue to walk down the sidewalk to their school. The courtyard was just a few feet away from them, almost within their reach.

"Why doesn't your dad do anything about that?" she asked, her face now placed in a deep, angry scowl.

"He tries his best," she sighed, trying to calm her friend down.

"Well, it's not enough!" she shouted angrily. Peter and Ned both stopped talking, turning to look at their friend. "You are in such a great amount of pain that you can barely eat or move most days and he still sends you to school like you're a normal kid!"

"MJ, you're shouting," Ava whispered, her lips barely moving as she spoke. Her arm wrapped around the other girl's shoulder, bringing her in close as they walked.

The shorter of the two huffed, running a hand through her hair frustratedly. "I know," she grumbled, wrapping her arm around Ava. "I just hate the fact that you're constantly in pain."

"I'm not in pain when I'm sleeping," she smiled weakly as they entered the courtyard of the school.

"But you shouldn't be in pain at all," MJ growled, trying to stay as quiet as possible.

"Yeah," Ned spoke up, whimpering a small bit under the glare of the taller female.

"I'll be fine," she said with a small shake of her head. "I've lived with this my entire life. You don't have to worry about me."

"After school should help you a bit, anyways," Peter sighed, shifting his backpack on his shoulder.

"After school?" Ned asked, his interest peaked.

"We're going to be doing some things that involve the stuff," Peter said vaguely through a yawn. Through the normal person wouldn't have been able to tell what he talking about, Ned and MJ both nodded in response.

They made their way to their respective classes in relative silence, with only a few snide remarked being thrown back and forth between the friends. They were just outside of Peter, Ned and MJ's first-hour gym class when they were finally joined by another member of their friend group.

"You all look like you got turned undead," Valerie snickered as she waltzed over to the foursome.

"Where the Hell were you last night?" Peter hissed, his eyes narrowing.

"Sara-" she started, before the rest of the group groaned.

"She's not good for you, Val," MJ shook her head, her tone taking on a possessive edge.

"She and I are just having a rough patch," Valerie shrugged, playing with her hair a small bit.

"You've literally said that about all of your girlfriends," Ned pointed out with a soft sigh.

"Okay, fine," the brown-haired girl rolled her eyes with a groan. "I guess I'm still not over Kat."

"You don't have to get over her, you just shouldn't stick your fingers into the crazy," MJ joked.

"Sara's not crazy," Valerie grumbled.

"She's literally emotionally manipulating you in every single way if you were a guy, I'd say that she had your balls in her purse," MJ sassed back.

"She's not that bad," Valerie tried to reason with them. Before any of them got the chance to speak, the bell rang, telling them that they all needed to start heading to classes. MJ sighed, her eyes narrowing as she turned and raced to the girl's locker room.

Ava sighed, brushing some of her hair out of her face as she and Valerie both made their way up gym hall and to where the classes were, both walking in complete silence. Ava turned and walked into her class, only waving to her friend as Valerie continued down the hall.

The rest of the day went by like normal until they were seated around their normal booth during lunch. They were talking as they always were, telling stories of what had happened the night before or what had happened in their classes before then. Tara, the last member of their group had finally joined them as well, despite her supposed to be eating in a different cafeteria due to her senior status.

"Hey, freaks!" Flash shouted as he sauntered up to the table. Ava groaned as she picked at one of her french fries, choosing to look out the window and ignore him. Valerie huffed, giving him a sidelong look of disgust as she continued talking to MJ. Tara whimpered, leaning against Ned as he was the biggest person at their table and the most likely to be able to defend her. Ned and Peter continued on with their conversation as well, choosing to ignore the bully.

"I said-" he started, glowering at the group.

"We know, we just chose to ignore you," MJ cut him off turning to him with an unimpressed look.

"Freaks like you don't get that kind of privilege," he growled, advancing on them.

"Who are you to call us freaks?" Valerie shot back, her eyebrows raised.

"You are! You're all fags, queers, and trannies!" he shouted, turning a couple heads around the lunchroom.

"You did not," Valerie shouted, her voice turning deep and angry. She stood out of the booth, squaring her shoulders back.

"You gonna fight me freak?" he shouted at her, getting a couple more heads to turn.

"Val, don't!" Peter warned as she charged at the bully. Her fist pulled back and then made contact with Flash's nose faster than he knew what was happening. Ava's eyes widened as she looked over at what was happening, her mouth dropping open in shock as soon as she saw the quickly forming bruises and blood that were covering his nose.

"What the Hell?" he asked. "You're a mutt too?"

"What the fuck was that asshole?" Valerie said, giving him a warning look. He shook his head as he ran away, not daring to talk back to the woman again. "Damn skippy," she said, returning back to her seat like nothing had ever happened.

"You're going to get in trouble," Ava said as Valerie turned back to the group. The cafeteria erupted in noisy chatter a moment later, everyone talking about the fight that had just taken place.

"Whatever, it was worth it," she said smugly, a contented smirk resting on her face.

"I-I can't believe y-you did that," Tara stuttered, her eyes wide and scared as several heads looked their way.

"No one gets to treat my people like that, I've let worse people than him go and I'm not going to do it again," she growled before she knocked back the rest of the liquid in her milk carton.

"You could have just slapped him when you punch you break bones," MJ said, dragging the words out for emphases.

"It's my training," Valerie said, her voice just quiet enough that no one around them would be able to hear. "I can't help it."

"Yes, you can," Peter finally spoke up. "Just like you can control not dating the crazy ones."

"Sara. Is. Not. Crazy!" she shouted, slamming her hands down on the table before she stood up and flung her backpack over her shoulder. She stalked away from the table, her short brown hair bouncing just above her shoulders as she did so. Several heads turned and watched her as she walked, through no one dared to bring up the fight that had happened just moments ago.

Ava sighed, "My head hurts too bad for these shenanigans."

"Did the pain meds I gave you this morning help at all?" Peter asked, his brows knitting together with worry. "You should try eating too."

"They sort of helped a little bit. And I did eat some," she answered.

"If they helped, take some more," Peter said, sliding the little red pills over to his friend. She sighed, and since she did not possess the energy to fight with him, picked them up and swallowed them as she had done that morning. She picked up another overcooked fry, popping that in her mouth and chewing it, despite the rancid feeling her stomach was throwing at her.

Tara poked MJ to move a few moments later, telling her friend that she had to leave. "I-I'll see you l-later, then?" she asked, her words mumbled and barely understandable.

"Yeah, of course," Peter nodded, a bright smile on his face. She beamed back at him, something that she rarely ever did before she turned and walked off, darting around people as best as she could. "I worry about her sometimes."

"We all do," Ned sighed, picking at the food that was still left on his tray.

"You should really stop worrying about us all so much," Ava sighed. "You're beginning to sound like a mom."

"Maybe I am a mom, you don't know," he retorted, stabbing a limp piece of broccoli with his crappy plastic fork.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, and I once had to listen to Flash talk for five minutes straight," MJ snorted.

"Rude," Peter commented, showing the piece of overcooked vegetable at her. She grimaced and moved away from him a small book as her eyes glanced back down to her phone. Ava lay her head down on the cool table, allowing it to take away some of the pain that she was constantly being put through.

Her eyes drifted closed for a moment before the bell rang, which was then followed by the screeching of poorly made chairs on even crappier linoleum. Ava sighed, hefting her backpack onto her shoulder as she walked down the hall to her next class, Ned walking dutifully by her side.

The courtyard was full of running, screaming teenagers when Ava arrived from her eighth hour. Her pre-existing frown deepened as someone darted around her so fast that she almost toppled over. "British freak!" someone shouted at her from across the parking lot. She rolled her eyes as she continued walking, knowing that if she were to address them like she oh-so-desperately wanted to, then she would be late for the one thing that might be able to make her life even the slightest bit better.

The black car was hidden well under a long hanging willow tree in the parking lot of the abandoned church next to the school. A man was leaning up against the sleek black vehicle, the scowl on his face making it look like he was going to snap someone's neck. She sighed, the thought of how nice it would be to have that happen flying through her head as she spoke to him.

"Ava Starr?" he asked, his voice gruff and bored.

"That's me," she nodded, her body choosing that point to make it impossible for her to hold her backpack, allowing it to fall down to the ground next to her. She sighed, waiting for the pain in her shoulder and arm to fade away before she leaned down, grabbing the bag.

"It's definitely you," he grumbled, opening the back door for her.

"I could have done that myself, you know," she snarked, the pain making a negative effect on her mood.

"Just get in, kid," he sighed. She sighed, rolling her eyes at him while she climbed into the back of the car. She pulled one of her legs up underneath her as she set her backpack on the perfect leather that covered the seats inside the car.

The man climbed into the front of the car, revving the engine. He took in a deep breath, then began to speak. "So you got in a fight at school today?"

"How do you know about that? And for your information, I wasn't involved in any of the actual fightings," she said, her eyes narrowing hardly at him.

"So you weren't the one to punch the kid?" the man said.

"No, that was Val. She does that a lot," Ava snarked, smirking as she thought about her friend.

"Which is how you caught our attention," the man said, shifting his grip on the wheel. "By the way, I'm Happy Hogan, the person that will be watching over the four of you for the time being."

She only nodded, folding her arms in front of her chest as she looked out the window to the rapidly moving city. Her body fell against the leather of the back seat, falling into the safety. Her chest heaved as she breathed through the pain that her body was constantly facing. Her eyes slowly began to close, allowing her a few minutes of silence and peace before she was awoken by the car coming to an abrupt stop.

"C'mon kid," Happy sighed, pulling the door open to let her get out. She frowned at the nickname but chose not to say anything as she got out of the car. "I'm just going to warn you now, the Avengers are nothing like you've seen them on TV."

"Okay?" she said, grimacing internally as her British accent moved through the word more than she meant it to.

"I'm not kidding," he said, his face was completely serious, something that Ava had noticed was a constant with the man. She nodded slowly, stepping a little further away from the agent as he ushered her into the elevator.

"Welcome, Mr. Hogan," a voice said, coming down from the walls.

"The fuck?" Ava asked, her eyes wide and slightly confused.

"That's F.R.I.D.A.Y., Mr. Stark's AI," Happy explained.

"And who are you with today, Mr. Hogan?" the AI asked, causing Ava to jump again.

"This is Ava Starr, one of the trainee's that Fury assigned to us," Happy said as he pressed one of the buttons for the elevator.

"Do you want me to register her in the database?" she asked around a beeping noise that told them that the elevator was moving up.

"Yes," Happy nodded, despite the AI not being able to see him.

"Okay," the female-sounding voice affirmed, leaving them in silence for the rest of the trip up. When they reached their floor, the voice spoke again, alerting the people on the floor that they were arriving.

"Agh! Teenagers!" a deep male voice called out that Ava quickly recognized as Tony Stark. She wanted to shrivel back into herself, all of a sudden everything was crashing down on her, she felt too big, too fat, and the pain was doubled.

"Tony!" Steve Rogers called out, causing her heart rate to double with fear. She stumbled out of the elevator, she could feel that her eyes were too wide and scared. She took in a deep breath, causing herself to look passive as she followed after Happy.

"What's happening?" another voice called out from further away.

"Get out here Scott!" a feminine voice called out. Ava soon figured out that the voice belonged to a skinny woman with long black hair that was tied up in a ponytail on the back of her head. Ava felt her cheeks blush as she looked up at the woman, but then she grabbed hold of her emotions like she had been taught to so long ago, putting the blank expression back on her face. "You must be Ava Starr," she smiled, walking closer to the teenager.

"That's me," Ava said, looking at her with dark eyes.

"I'm Hope Van Dyne, and the man coming out the kitchen is Scott Lang," she continued talking, gesturing to the man that was stumbling out of the kitchen with oven mitts on his hands. "We're going to be able to help you control your powers."

"Okay," Ava said, keeping it as short as possible."How?"

"Well, what're your abilities?" Scott said, pulling the oven mitts off his hands and setting them down on the glass coffee table that was placed in the middle of the living room floor.

"I wouldn't call them powers," she said, facing Hope, "or abilities," she turned to Scott as she said that.

"Then what would you call them?" Hope asked, her eyebrows raised.

"I would call it a curse," she hissed, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Then what is your curse?" Scott said, slightly amused.

"My body is constantly being torn apart and put back together again on a molecular level of being," she said, used to having to explain it in simple terms.

"I can work with that," Hope sighed, sounding relieved. "Have you done anything to help it?"

"My papa has done as much as he could. I have a chamber where everything is slowed down, making the pain that much less," she explained, feeling self-conscious as the people in the room looked her over.

"Pain?" Scott said, her voice riddled with concern. "Of course it hurts," he muttered to himself after Hope gave him a look.

"Why don't you come down to my father's old lab with me?" Hope asked.

"Okay," Ava agreed, adjusting the backpack on her shoulder.

"What do you want me to do, Hope?" Scott asked.

"I want you to make sure you don't burn down the kitchen again," she said, her eyebrows raised as she pointed to the kitchen.

The question of what happened the last time flitted through Ava's mind, and yet she kept her mouth clamped shut, following after Hope as she walked back into the elevator. "Sorry about him," she apologized, her voice sickly sweet. "He can be a bit much on the first impression."

"You've obviously never met Valerie," Ava snorted, dropping a bit of her mask now that she was just around the other woman.

"You're friend that was assigned to Thor?" Hope asked, her eyes darting down to look at Ava, who only nodded in response. "Ah. Well, I'm sure he can handle her if he could handle Loki."

"I'm not so sure about that," the teenager muttered under her breath. "Valerie is a bit much, to everyone."

"Do you mind if I ask how your friend group wound up all being superpowered?" she asked, her voice riddled with curiosity.

"Not really," she said, pressing her lips together in a line as her body ached with a fresh wave of pain.

"Well, something I do need to know from you is how you got your," she paused, "curse."

"Why?" she asked, irritated.

"Because it will help me be able to help you," Hope explained.

"My biological father was a scientist, and he would bring me to his work after school. One day, everything went wrong and his experiment hurt me and killed him," she said, the mental hurt of losing one of the most important parts of her life returning back in full force.

"My condolences, I know how challenging it can be to lose a family member," the older woman said, her eyes filling with sympathy. "Do you have any idea what the experiment he was working on was called?"

"I was six," she said, her eyes turning hard with annoyance.

"Well," Hope chuckled, "we may be able to run a few tests and figure it out anyways."

Ava stayed quiet, exiting the elevator right behind Hope. She glanced around the lab, finding it to be just like all of the other ones that she had been in, other than the large structure pressed to one wall. It was red and silver, the inside was also big enough to have two people inside of it. "What's that?" she asked, the curiosity inside of her getting past her mask.

"That is the only safe way to shrink down into the Quantum Realm," Hope said proudly, a small smirk on her bright pink lips. Ava nodded slowly, her tired brain trying to take in that information. "So, how does the curse work?"

"Certain times are worse than others," Ava said cryptically, sitting down on the seat across from Hope. "Sometimes I can't touch anything, others everything just hurts."

"Okay, that's useful," she nodded, scribbling the information down on the notepad in front of her. "Have you ever tried to go through a wall?"

"I've never had that much control over it," she shook her head. When in truth, as a small child, she had many a time tried to walk through her bedroom door, and had never once succeeded.

"We can work with small things, then," Hope nodded. "To help with the pain though, would you mind if I took some samples?"

"If it can help me be more like a normal teenager, then no," she shook her head. Hope smiled kindly at her as she rushed around the lab, grabbing all the things that she would need.

"I need to take blood first," she said after returning. Ava sighed but held out her arm. Hope smiled a small bit, hoping it would help as she tied a band around the teenager's arm. She then picked up the sanitized needle, she turned it around to puncture the girl's arm but allowed Ava enough time to turn her head away. The rest of the samples took a while but were not nearly as terrifying as getting her blood done.

"This should be able to help me figure out how to help you, but I would like to ask you a couple more questions," Hope said, trailing off at the end hopefully.

"Okay," Ava nodded, giving her permission.

"Does pain medication help at all?" she asked, tapping the pen in her hand against her notepad.

"It helps as much as eating a single cheerio after fasting all day does," she said.

"What kind of pain meds have you been taking?" she asked, scribbling it down.

"Ibuprofen," she answered.

"Okay, and-" Hope began, through she was stopped by the lab door opening. Scott entered in a bright smile on his face and a large plate of cookies in his hands. "What kind?" she asked, completely derailing from her last question.

"Chocolate chip," he beamed pridefully. "You want some, Ava?"

She hesitated, knowing that she would purge it when she went home, so it was almost pointless to eat them, though the smell that hit her after a moment instantly made her cave. "Yes, please."

Scott smirked as he walked over to her, offering both of the females the plate of cookies. Ava took one, as did Hope, but the young teenager had only taken one bite when the door opened again, this time allowing Happy to enter.

"I need to take the kid home," he said, his hands shoved in his pants pockets.

"If you must," Hope sighed, dropping her pen down on the table. "I'll see you next week, dear."

"Goodbye Ms. Van Dyne, Goodbye Mr. Lang," Ava said politely as she walked back over to Happy. They both spoke on top of each other as they told her to use their first names, yet she only smiled as she followed after the agent.

"Let's get you home, kid," Happy smiled, patting her shoulder as he got them back to the car that he had picked her up in.

"Thank you, Mr. Hogan," she said softly, climbing in the back seat with no argument. A small bubble of hope popped into her heart, allowing her to finally begin to think that there may be a better future for her ahead.

 **A/N: This chapter got so long...**  
 **Comment what you want to see next or what you thought about this chapter!**

 **Stay sissy and bitchy everyone!**


	3. Chapter Two: Wednesday

**A/N: Triggers: Transgender slurs, slurs, bullying, anxiety, and body dysmorphia**

 **If you find any other triggers, please comment them down below so that I can put them in the notes. I love hearing what you have to say about this story, it honestly means so much to me and I will try to respond to every comment to the best of my abilities.**

 **Stay sissy and bitchy everyone! 3**

"Peter," May called from just down the hall, the sound bounced off of the small apartment walls. "You need to get up for school!"

"Getting up!" he shouted, pulling himself from the warm confines of his blankets. He opened his eyes groggily, whimpering as the sun poured in from the hole in his blinds. "I really need to get that fixed," he grumbled. He quickly got dressed, rushing around his rooms as he grabbed the loosest pair of jeans that he owned as well as his favorite t-shirt. He pulled off his shirt, hissing as the rough fabric brushed against the small cuts, bruises, and rashes that littered his chest. He grabbed the pack of ace bandages that were on his bedside table, unraveling them as he began to bind his breasts down. After he had thrown on the rest of his clothing, he made his way out of his tiny bedroom.

"Aunt May?" he called down the hall.

"What is it hunny?" she called back, leaning back from where she was buttering a piece of bread.

"Could we, maybe, get me a new binder? I'm willing to skip a month of T, if that would help," he said, knowing full well that the testosterone that he was taking was actually doing nothing to shift the hormones inside of him.

"Oh Peter," May said, dropping what was in her hands to walk over to her nephew. "Of course we can get you one. I didn't know you needed a new one. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I didn't want to stress you out anymore, I know money has been tight," he sighed, wrapping his arms around his Aunt's skinny waist. He placed his chin on her shoulder, allowing the elderly woman to rock him back and forth comfortingly.

"Money has been tight, but we do have a clothes budget," she smiled, placing her hand on his cheek. "You won't have to give up your T, I promise."

He nodded, leaning into her touch as his hand moved up her arm to hold onto her wrist. His heart swelled with love as he looked at the woman who had been with him through it all, making sure to take care of him even after Ben had passed away. "Thanks, Aunt May," he whispered.

"Of course," she smiled, her eyes filled with a watery pride. "Now, take your breakfast and go catch the bus, I don't want you to be late."

"Okay," he sighed, internally groaning at the prospect of having to deal with everything at school. He grabbed the piece of bread that she had been buttering it, only then seeing that it was ever so slightly toasted. "Thanks, bye Aunt May!" he said through a bite of his breakfast as he raced out of the door.

He had just reached his bus stop when the overly large vehicle pulled up, coming to a hissing stop. Peter quickly boarded, as no one was getting off at that particular stop. He moved down the row to the seat that he always sat in, plopping down and placing his feet on the other seat in the small row. He pulled his MP3 and earbuds out of his backpack, popping the small white buds into his ears and turning on the electronics on. He felt his entire body relax as the music began to pump into his ears, flowing through him pleasantly.

The bus stopped a couple time until it stopped at the place where Ava got on. She marched through the aisle til she got to where Peter was sitting. "Move your legs," she said, poking at his limbs. He did as she asked, shifting in his seat so that she could sit down next to him like she always did.

"Did you follow through with our promise?" he asked, his eyebrows raised as he pulled out one of his earbuds.

"Yes," she nodded, holding up the wrapper from the pop tarts that she had eaten. "Did you?"

"I asked my Aunt May to buy me a new one," he sighed, pulling at the front of his shirt as he began to worry about the poor binding job that he had done being too easily seen through. They spent the rest of the bus ride in a relative silence, only bringing up a couple topics that were quickly dismissed in one or two-word answers.

The bus pulled up at their stop, making the horrible hissing sound that it did every time it came to a resting point. "Let's go face another day in prison," Ava said, her eyes angry as she stood from her seat.

"One of these days you're going to get in trouble for calling it that," Peter sighed as he followed closely behind her.

"That day hasn't come yet," she snarled back at him, a small smirk resting on her lips as she walked.

"Hey, Tara!" Peter waved as he hopped off the bus. His red-haired friend whirled around, a gentle, shy smile on her pale face.

"Hi P-Peter," she said, rushing over to where the duo was walking. "H-hi Ava."

"Is Val at school today?" Ava asked, looking around the courtyard for their normally very recognizable friend.

"Sh-she got suspended," Tara explained, walking closer and closer to her two friends as they walked into the crowded hallways of the school.

"That's right, she punched Flash yesterday," Ava snorted, amusement filling her face.

"Sp-speaking of yesterday," Tara whispered, her voice getting smaller and smaller the larger the crowd they were around. "What happened a-after s-s-school?"

"They picked me up, asked about the fight and then when we got there they said they may be able to help get rid of the pain," Ava explained.

"They really think this is going to be easy, don't they?" Peter sighed, stopping at his locker. He spun the combo out as quickly as he could, trying to ignore the group of girls a few feet from them that were obviously talking about their group.

"That annoying girl with the brown hair, the one that punched Flash the other day for no good reason," one of the girls said, her voice an annoying falceto. "I heard she got suspended."

"She deserved it," another one of them sassed, though this voice was followed with the sounds of smacking lips from gum.

"I know," the first girl said. "I mean, how dare she touch the perfect God."

"He's better than Thor," a third voice chimed in. Peter felt his stomach roll sickeningly as the words spouted out of their mouths.

"Shut up Becky," the first girl said.

"Th-that's not a very nice w-way to treat your f-friends," Tara retorted, just loud enough that the rest of the group could hear. Ava snorted, placing a hand over her mouth to hide the wicked smile that she was sporting. Peter smirked to himself, slamming the door of his locker shut as hard as he could, which caused the idiotic cheerleader-type girls to jump. Ava let out a sharp breath of laughter as she turned down the hall, earning a grumpy, upset noise from the group of girls behind them.

"Bye Peter," Ava said dismissively as she shepherded the senior down the hall to where both of their classes were located.

"Bye!" he called after them, waving as his friends left. He ran a hand through his short locks, fixing them from where they had gone astray. He darted down the hall again, quickly making his way to the gym hallway. He ducked into the boy's locker room, ignoring the comments that were being thrown his way about him always turning up at the last minute from the teacher.

He maneuvered his way past much too muscular guys until he got to his locker on the very end. He quickly swiveled the lock, putting in the right combination so that it would open. Once it did, he pulled out his gym shirt, placing it over his t-shirt and pulling the everyday piece of clothing out the way that he had learned how to do when wearing a bra. He quickly took off his pants and put on his gym shorts, not bothering to take off his shoes knowing that if he did then he would be late for class.

By the time that he had made it into the gym, the majority of the students were already doing the warm-up that was written in messy handwriting on the board. Peter stopped to read it, placing his hand on his waist, then moving them to the bottom of his hips, worried that he looked too feminine. As his eyes scanned over the words, an arm slapped down on his shoulder, followed by the sound of an overly throaty voice, "Well if it isn't the one and only Penis Parker."

"Would you just leave me alone?" Peter groaned, the nickname hitting him straight in the sore spot in his heart as it always did.

"I think I should repay the favor that your little mutt friend gave me," Flash growled back, applying pressure to the hand on Peter's shoulder, which caused him to wince and move away slightly.

"She's not a mutant, and there would be nothing wrong if she was," Peter snarled back, anger bubbling inside of his gut.

"She's a freak, just like the rest of you are. She's a dike, a freak, and a mutt," Flash said again, getting closer and closer to Peter as he spoke. The young superhero clamped his mouth shut, trying to keep any physical outburst from happening, as if it did Flash would end up with more than just a broken nose.

"You too scared to talk back now tranny?" Flash jeered, shoving his shoulder as hard as he could. Peter fake stumbled back a few feet, trying to keep up with the facade of being a scrawny teenager. "C'mon, fight back, like the man you are."

"I'm more of a man than you," Peter whispered under his breath as he quickly made his way away from the bully, catching up with Ned and MJ where they were jogging laps.

"What's the warm-up?" he asked, falling in line with his friends.

"Didn't you read the board? You were over there long enough to read it ten times," MJ snarked, running slightly sideways so that she could face the superpowered teenager.

"Flash was being Flash," Peter sighed, running a hand through his hair as he prepared himself for MJ's burst of anger.

"Shouldn't that asshat have learned his lesson from getting his stupid fucking nose broken?" she growled, her voice growing louder and louder with each word.

"MJ, you're shouting," Ned commented, causing her to shoot her infamous death glare with a feral growl rising in the back of her throat.

"I am not," she narrowed her eyes, looking more and more like a feral animal as each moment passed.

"You are," Peter said, siding with his other friend. She turned and pointed the glare at him, causing him to chuckle nervously.

"You should have punched him harder than Val did," she commented, looking out in front of her as to not run into any of the other students. "We both know you're the stronger one."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Ned piped up. "Val has had more time to train." Someone passed by them, giving them an odd, confused look as they ran past the trio.

"But Peter has spider strength," MJ argued, quieting down to a whisper so that no one would be able to hear their conversation.

"Yeah but Val has had over a hundred years of training one on one with the Gods," Ned reasoned.

"So? She knows how to use what little natural strength she does have, but if Peter had the same amount of training then he would be more powerful than her," MJ said, placing her hand on her hips as they slowed down to a walk.

"You guys, could you use our superhero names instead of our real ones, you're going to out us," Peter sighed, slowing down a little despite having enough energy to continue going.

"Oh yeah," Ned chuckled, a goofy grin splitting his face.

"Fine," MJ said, her dark eyes turning to him, a glimmer of amusement sparked in them.

"Oh," Ned spoke up after a slightly awkward moment of silence. "You also have to take into account that the Heiress has a lot of magic as well as just normal strength, and Spiderman doesn't have any magic."

"But we're not talking about magic, we're talking about strength," MJ reasoned.

"Magic can be a strength too," he said. Before the smallest member of the trio had a chance to respond, the teacher called the students over and told them to file into their roll call lines.

As soon as they had done so and taken roll, the coach steadied himself, making himself look more intimidating than normal. "Today, we're going to be playing Tackle Football."

"This is going to be fun," Peter groaned, running a nervous hand through his hair.

The last bell of the day took forever, and then the teacher of Peter's eighth-hour class took even longer than normal to let the students out. Once he had been dismissed, he ran out of the hallway, darting around a lot of the clots of students in the hall. He itched to use the web slingers that were on his hands, hidden beneath the overly long cuffs of his jacket. The urge sat in his gut as he made his way up to the car, where a man was standing just in front of it, his hands shoved inside of his pockets and a scowl on his face.

"You Peter Parker?" he asked, the accent thick in his voice.

"Yup, that's me," Peter said, puffing his chest out proudly before the dysmorphia set in, causing him to slouch back down. "Are you picking me up for after school?" he asked, suddenly remembering what he was told to do.

"That's me," he nodded. "The name's Happy Hogan, now get in the car so we can get going."

Peter opened his mouth to say something, but after seeing the tired glare that Happy gave him, just closed his mouth again, getting into the back of the car. As the car began to race down the city blocks, the superpowered teenager pulled his phone out of his pocket, opening one of the texts that he had received while he was in class.

Val, 3:25 p.m.

Peeeeettttttteeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Val, 3:30 p.m.

Being suspended is so boring….

Save me pls

Peter, 3:40 p.m.

It's your own fault

Peter, 3:41

You shouldn't have punched him

Val, 3:42

Rude D:

Peter, 3:42

That's what friends are for.

Val, 3:43

I guess. :(

Peter, 3:50

I have after school stuff, I need you to do patrol for me tonight since you skipped out yesterday.

Val, 3:50

But I had a date!

Peter, 3:51

With great power, comes great responsibility.

Val, 3:52

You had to pull that card, didn't you? D:

Peter, 3:53

So…

Peter, 3:53

Does that mean you're going to do it?

Val, 3:55

Yeah. Fine, whatever. Have fun!

As soon as he had received the last text from his friend, they pulled up at the Avenger's compound. He quickly turned his phone to airplane mode, panicking as he thought that it may interrupt the training he was going to be receiving. "C'mon kid," Happy sighed, opening the door for him as he scrambled to put his phone back in his pocket and get his backpack off the floor.

He stumbled as he tried to get caught up with the much larger man, tugging at the front of his shirt nervously. His breath caught in his throat as he walked faster, causing a rush of nausea caused by adrenaline to course through him. He placed his hand on his chest, pressing down as he began to panic. He grimaced as he applied just a little too much pressure to one of the wounds that had been caused by his poor binding job.

"You keeping up okay, kid?" Happy called back from behind him, turning his head ever so slightly so that he could actually see the superpowered teenager.

"Yeah," Peter nodded, jogging a little bit to catch up with the adult. They continued in silence until they got to the elevator.

"Just a warning, Tony- Mr. Stark's AI will talk to when we get into the elevator," he warned, remembering what had happened the last time that he had done this song and dance.

"Woah, really?" Peter asked, feeling excitement bubble up in his chest before realization dawned on him. "Holy shit," he whispered, running a nervous hand through his hair.

"You okay, kid?" Happy asked, his voice just barely sounding compassionate enough that Peter would give an answer.

"Yeah, it just dawned on me that I'm really getting to meet Tony Stark, like, the Tony Stark," he said, his eyes wide as he gestured furiously with his hands.

"He's not all he's made out to be," Happy chuckled as he ushered the boy into the elevator.

"I find that a little hard to believe," Peter mumbled, smiling a small bit as the man became a little more kind to him.

"You'd be surprised," Happy replied as they entered the elevator.

"Welcome back Mr. Hogan, and which one of the children do you have with you today?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. asked through the speaker.

"Woah," Peter said, choosing to overlook the fact that he had just been called a child by an Artificial Intelligence. "That is so cool."

"This is Peter Parker, please put him into the system," Happy replied as he pressed the top floor button on the wall.

"Yessir," the female voice replied. "What would you like me to call you Peter Parker?"

"Peter is fine," he replied, his voice shaking with excitement as he looked around the elevator to see if he could locate the speaker that the voice was being emitted out of.

"Okay, Peter," F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied.

"I don't think I would ever get over how cool that is," he chuckled to himself.

"She gets old pretty quick, especially when she starts butting into conversations," Happy chuckled. "Why Tony ever decided to name her after a day of the week, I'll never know."

"That does sound a bit problematic," Peter responded, picking at the cloth that covered his chest nervously as the elevator arrived at the top floor.

"Alright, come on," Happy sighed. Peter nodded wordlessly as he followed after him. "Tony?"

"What?" a gruff voice replied as someone walked out of the kitchen. Peter felt excitement and nerves roll through him, making his stomach ache and his heart beat a mile a minute. "Oh yeah, I have to take care of a teenager today."

"Tony!" another voice shouted from the kitchen, which caused Peter's breath to catch in his throat. "You promised!"

"Fine, fine," Tony sighed, swirling the alcohol in his glass as he walked towards the superpowered fifteen-year-old. "What's your name again kid?"

"Uhm, Peter Parker, sir," he said, picking at the front of his shirt and leaning forward a little bit as he became more self-conscious.

"Alright Peter," he smirked with a little chuckle. "Let's get you down to my lab."

Peter's eyes widened as he followed the billionaire back into the elevator. He moved the backpack on his back a little bit, adjusting the strap so it fit the right way. They stood in the elevator for a moment in a slightly awkward silence before they reached the floor that Tony had requested. "Entrance word?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. asked.

"Stony," Tony replied, and as soon as he had said the word the doors flew open and allowed them to enter. Every emotion that Peter had been feeling melted away and was quickly replaced by a giddy excitement as he scanned over every piece of equipment in the lab. "You into science, kid?" Tony asked after he saw the expression on the teenager's face.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Like a lot. I'm in AP Chem and the Robotics club."

"Well, that's promising," Tony muttered to himself as he walked around one of the tables, situating himself in front of one of the plethora of projects littered everywhere. "What'd you say your powers were again?"

"I didn't," Peter shook his head, feeling the normal panic set into the bottom of his stomach. Tony looked up at him with his eyebrows raised, which made the teenager answered. "It's easier if I show you."

"Kid, I'm not so sure-" the older superhero said, but Peter had already begun. He squatted down a small bit to amplify the jump, which worked, landing with him clinging to the ceiling by his fingertips. He stayed clung to the ceiling for a moment before he dropped down to the floor again.

"Well damn," Tony said after a moment of silence.

Peter let out a breathy, nervous laugh. "I also made these," he said, slipping off the web slingers from his wrist and putting them down on the table.

"What are they?" Tony asked, picking one of them up and turning it every which way as he looked at the craftsmanship.

"I call them web slingers," Peter replied, picking the other one up and pointing it at the wall. He pressed the button, causing a small amount of the web fluid inside to come spurting out, which allowed a web to stick to the window.

"How strong is the fluid?" Tony asked, switching modes.

"Strong enough to hold me in the air for about 2.46 seconds," Peter said, detaching the sting of webbing from the window so that he could put the piece of technology back on his wrist.

"We can work on getting the web mixture to be stronger, what chemical compound are you using right now?" he asked, walking around the table to pick up the webbing. He ran the strand back and forth between his fingers as Peter rattled out the chemicals that he used to make the ultra strong fiber. "Have you ever considered putting vibranium into it?"

"Of course, but that stuff is really hard to come by," the young superhero retorted, leaning back against the desk.

"Not when you have billions of dollars," Tony smirked.

"A-are you serious?" he asked, his facing lighting up.

"Hell yeah, I am, kid!" Tony said, his eyes glimmering at amusement as he saw how excited the kid was becoming. "Next time you come, we can work on it. I'll have the materials we need to test it out."

"That sounds amazing, Mr. Stark," Peter gushed, taking the other web-slinger from where Tony had left it on the table and placed it back on his hand.

"Alright, can you do anything else?" Tony asked, quickly switching the subject.

"I have enhanced strength and senses," Peter answered quickly.

"Any idea how enhanced?"

"We've pretty much figured out that it's like if a spider was the size of a human," Peter tried to explain, running a hand through his short brown locks.

"Why don't we run downstairs to one of the training rooms and do some tests?" Tony asked, grabbing his alcohol from the table.

"Okay!" Peter chirped, feeling his anxiety fade away from him a little bit.

"Tony, I need to take the kid back to his apartment," Happy said, knocking on the frame of the training room. Peter sighed and dropped off the ceiling, moving his shoulders in circles as he tried to get his makeshift binder back into the place that it had been before.

Peter grinned, waving back as he ran out the door. "Bye, Mr. Stark!"

"See you next week, kid!"


	4. Chapter Three: Thursday

**A/N: Triggers: Fighting, descriptive violence, and implied PTSD**

 **If you find any other triggers, please make sure to comment them down below so I can put them in the tags and notes!**

 **I love getting your comments, they make me so happy! Enjoy reading!**

 **Stay sissy and bitchy everyone! 3**

Valerie threw her legs over the back of her chair, puffing out a big breath of air as she waited for something entertaining to happen. After about another minute of silence, she pulled her phone out from her pocket, selecting the group chat that the friend group had set up.

Valerie, 12:34 PM

save me

Tara, 12:50 PM

It's your fault you got suspended, go out on patrol or something. They didn't put you on home arrest

Ava, 12:50 PM

Go out on patrol, make yourself useful while we're stuck in prison

Ned, 12:50 PM

.com

Peter, 12:50 PM

Just be glad you don't have to deal with Flash today.

Valerie, 12:51 PM

I find it amusing you all texted me at the same time.

Valerie dropped the phone down on the threadbare couch as she stood up. She quickly removed her shirt, toying with the worn fabric for a moment before she dropped it on the chair behind her. She then moved around her apartment, picking up all the pieces of her suit. She pinned her hair back, revealing more of her face then she was comfortable with before she threw on the bulky, oversized armor. She shuddered at the thought of the populous finding out how tiny she really was.

She placed the helmet on her head, covering her face. She clambered over to the window, crawling out onto the fire escape that had been hastily plastered to the wall. As soon as she was standing on the fragile metal, she allowed her wings to unfurl. She let a small breath after each and every one of the silver, gold and black feathers had unraveled and been hit by the pleasant wind that was coursing through the smoggy air.

A smirk fell on her lips as she squatted down, using the force to make herself launch higher into the air. Her wings beat down in a sweeping motion, the middle moving forward while the tips of the wings moved towards her chest a small bit. They then beat down, again and again, lifting her up into the air in a rapid couple motions. She flew up as high as she could, which only took a couple seconds due to the immense size of her wings. As soon as she had gotten up as high as she could, she pushed herself north a small way before taking a nosedive down to the road. She stopped just short of the road, causing a lot of people to honk at her and swerve in the road, through that was pretty normal for New York traffic. She took off again until she reached the average height of the buildings, scanning the street as she flew.

She was just flying for a moment, enjoying the feeling of the breeze coming through the holes of her helmet. She heard a sharp, terrified scream of a child, something that made her heart pound and her stomach roll with anger. She flew sideways for a moment as she dropped her elevation, following the sounds of the shrieking. A small crowd had formed around the alley, looking on as a tall, muscular man pressed a gun to a young girl's head.

"Please let her go, she's done nothing wrong!" the woman, who Valerie assumed was the legal guardian of the child, shouted. Tears were streaming down her face as she edged forward toward her daughter, trying to make the girl calm down.

"Take one step closer and I'll blow her brains against this wall!" the man shouted, jostling the girl around by the throat, which caused her scream to muffle for a moment as she lost access to her windpipe.

"I don't think so," Valerie whispered to herself as she landed just behind him, her feet touching the ground silently.

Some of the people that were standing, phones pressed to the sides of their heads as they spoke to 911 operators, turned to her. She pressed a hand to where her mouth was inside her helmet, trying to make sure that they were quiet. "It's the Heiress!" someone shouted, causing Valerie to groan angrily. The man swiveled around, the gun pressing harder and harder into the young girl's head.

Valerie heard the sound of the gun going off in her head, making her lift her hand in the air, creating a glowing spear. It weighed her hand down a small bit as she moved her arm back as much as she could before she threw it forward as hard as she could, pumping magic into her hands to make it go farther and harder than it would normally. The spear was in his head, pinning him to the wall through his shoulder, which forced him to drop the gun and the girl as he tried to pull it out.

"Are the police coming?" Valerie shouted out, making her voice deeper as she rushed forward to get the girl up from the ground. The young child scrambled to get away from her captor, falling into the arms of the superpowered teenager. Someone in the crowd shouted back that the police were on their way, which took a load off of Valerie's heart as she guided the girl back to her mother.

"Thank you so much," the woman whispered as she and her daughter walked away from the man.

"All in a day's work," Valerie smirked under her helmet before the cops arrived, pushing through the crowd to get to the crime scene.

"Heiress," one of the police officers sighed, putting his gun back in its holster as his partner brought out his handcuffs. The second officer walked to the man before he waited for a moment. Valerie chuckled silently to herself as she walked over, pulling her spear out of the man's shoulder with a sickening crunchy noise as the metal scraped against bone. She only stuck around until she had made sure that the man had been handcuffed and placed inside the police car. As soon as that had happened, she took flight again, splitting through the air as she increased her altitude.

She quickly began to patrol again, listening to the wind blow through her helmet which created a whistling sound. It was another five minutes, which meant that she had flown from Queens to the Upper East Side before she spotted another small crime. She flew down to the ground quickly, landing a little more loudly than she had before. The criminals had nothing but slightly dented crowbars, which made Valerie have to stifle a laugh.

"St-stop right there!" one of them said, holding the piece of metal up at her as he tried to be menacing. She snorted audibly as she walked to him, hitting him upside the head as the crowbar came down on her shoulder. She groaned as she felt the skin below her armor begin to bruise. The criminal next to her shouted, backing away from the teenager quickly. Valerie chuckled to herself again as she rushed forward, grabbing the crowbar from his hands and using it to knock the incompetent criminal out cold.

"Geez, you could've at least put up a fight," she snickered to herself as she grabbed the two scrawny men, putting them up against the wall. She then silently entered the building, finding the other two robbers coming down the stairs, bags of valuables in their hands.

"Is that the Heiress?" one of them asked, his voice shaky and scared. Valerie smirked underneath her helmet before she rushed at them. She summoned her sword, using it to knock both of the robbers out cold on the floor. She hefted their bodies over to the wall before she grabbed the two bags of loot. She quickly ran the bags back down to the lobby of the apartments before she ran outside, pressing herself off the ground one last time.

She flew for a few minutes before she found her apartment once again, landing on the same balcony that she had originally taken off from. She sighed, removing her helmet to run her hand through her short hair. The clips in her hair had come undone at some point, letting the short brown locks fall into her eyes. After a moment, she entered back into her apartment through the window, stripping herself down of the heavy armor. She collapsed down on her threadbare couch, picking up the phone that she had dropped there before going on patrol.

Peter, 3:16 PM

Hey Val, remember that you have to get to the after school thing

Tara, 3:17 PM

And that you have to meet him in Nebraska for training.

Valerie, 3:20 PM

You guys are like my parents.

Tara, 3:25 PM

If that's what you want me to be ;)

Valerie, 3:30 PM

Maybe I do, mommy ;)

Peter, 3:35 PM

Can you two go flirt elsewhere, please?

Valerie, 3:35 PM

You know you like it.

Ned, 3:36 PM

I am too gay for your lesbian flirting.

MJ, 3:37

Val, you should really be living.

MJ, 3:37

Ned, we're all too gay for their flirting.

Valerie snorted as she shut her phone off, tucking it into the pocket of her jeans. She stood up from the couch, walking around the living room and gathering up the pieces of armor that she had shed not twenty minutes ago. As soon as she had gotten the armor back on and her hair pulled back underneath her helmet, she took off from her balcony. This time, she had a destination, meaning that she flew faster than she had when she was on patrol.

It took almost ten minutes before she had found the field that she was supposed to be on. She mentally berated herself for taking that long to arrive when she knew that she could have come back much sooner. "Hello?" she asked as she floated down onto the already crushed hay.

"You have arrived!" a booming voice said from the edge of the field. Valerie felt her heart sink as Thor walked closer and closer to where she had landed. "I have been waiting for quite some time, mortal."

"I am not a mortal, and you should know that," she snapped, already irritated at the man despite having just arrived.

Thor stopped for a moment and she could almost hear the gears inside his head turning as he registered what she had just said. His face lit up after a moment and he chuckled, "It's nice to see you again, Valerie!"

"It's not so nice to see you," she grumbled. She placed her arms over her chest, trying to fold them despite her armor trying its best to prevent it.

"Ah, now don't be like that, daughter!" Thor cried, a joyous smile on his face. "I'm happy to see that you are alright."

"I bet no one else is," she pouted.

"That's not true! Frigga spent two years scouring the lands for you! And she still has a reward out for anyone that can find you!" Thor shouted, his eyebrows knitting together.

"That makes me sound like a criminal," she growled.

"But she thought that you had been captured!" he explained loudly.

"Well, she didn't do a very good job looking for me!" Valerie shouted.

"Why don't you calm down a bit?" he offered, giving her a weak smile.

"You calm down!" she shouted back. She could feel the magic inside of her swirling out into the air, going down into the ground in large swirls.

"Valerie!" he shouted, his voice switching from it's normal shouting to a fatherly tone, which had her bowing her head and quieting down. "You scared us to death! And now you're treating us like we did something wrong!"

She frowned underneath her helmet, "I'm sorry," she said, bowing her head. "I had to be my own person. I had to get away."

"I know, little one, I know," he smiled, his voice turning soft and protective. "But never, ever do that again."

"Please don't take me away from my family," she whispered.

"But I am your family," he reasoned, walking closer to the Goddess.

"My new family, the one I found," she amended. "Please don't take me away from them."

"I will not, as long as you promise me that you will come back home next week," Thor sighed, folding her arms in front of his chest.

"Okay, I promise," she nodded, through her helmet didn't allow her to move far.

"Good, now get home," Thor told her sternly. She obeyed quickly, racing back home.


	5. Chapter Four: Friday

**A/N: Triggers: Slurs, panic attacks, anxiety, nightmares, and bullying**

 **If you find any more triggers, please comment them so that I can put them in the tags and notes, thank you and enjoy!**

Tara was cold, and everything around her was completely black for a moment before houses that stretched up into the inky blackness formed, each having their own feeling and color put into them. She could see the sidewalk running on for miles and seemingly endless miles, but she knew it had to stop eventually. She puffed out a breath of air, which manifested as a white puff of steam in the cold air. She started forward slowly, tucking a long strand of red hair behind her pale, almost frozen ear. She looked back and forth at the houses that seemed to have been copy-and-pasted from one another.

She took a step forward, and it was like she was never able to stop as she began to sprint down the street, running down the line of identical houses. After a moment, when her panicked breathing had finally calmed down enough for her to hear the world around her, she stopped, the sound of a child's voice reaching. The child was crying, shouting in distress as they begged for someone to help them. Tara's heart sank down to her stomach as she raced towards the voice.

"Junebug?" she asked once she finally stumbled across the owner of the voice. The child in front of her turned around, sniffling and wiping her nose and eyes on her sleeve.

"'Iger?" she asked, rushing forward at the girl.

"Hey there bug," Tara cooed, wrapping her ex-foster sister into a hug. "You're okay, I've got you now."

"I miss you," the five-year-old sobbed, clutching the older girl's shirt like it would save her life. "I wan' you 'o come back."

"I know you do," Tara nodded, sitting down on the oddly vacant grass as she pulled her sister into her lap. Her hand gently rubbed up and down the younger girl's quivering back, hushing her heavy sobs. "I'll be able to adopt you in a couple years, I promise," she said, pleading in her voice too thick for June to ignore.

"Th-that's what Emma said…" she trailed off, sniffling slightly. "And she never came back."

"Emma has her own set of troubles," Tara said tightly, thinking to how the last time she had seen her sister the woman had been six months pregnant with twins. "But I always keep my promises, don't I?"

"Mhm," June nodded, nuzzling into her sister's collarbone. "Always," she mumbled, exhausted from crying for Lord only knows how long.

"I love you, Junebug," Tara whispered, rocking them back and forth as she tried to lull the smaller of the two into a pleasant sleep.

"Can you sing me a song?" June asked, her words mushed together with sleep.

"What song?" Tara asked, knowing how much her sister loved her voice.

"Charlotte town?" she asked, mumbling sleepily.

"Of course, bug," Tara smiled before she began to sing the song softly, her hand weaving through June's blond hair.

"Charlottetown's burning down,

Goodbye, goodbye,

Burning down to the ground,

Goodbye Liza Jane.

Ain't ya mighty sorry?

Goodbye, goodbye,

Ain't ya mighty sorry?

Goodbye Liza Jane."

When she had finished the short song, June's spirit had faded away, back into her own Dreamscape and out of the Astral Plane. Tara felt herself begin to fall into what felt like sleep, though she knew she was falling into her own Dreamscape.

* * *

Tara was shaken awake by her alarm clock blaring into her ears. She shot up out of bed, hitting the old analog clock to make the annoying noise leave. She hefted herself across the room, stripping off her pajamas and flinging them in the direction of her laundry basket. She tugged on one of her many pairs of jeans, buttoning them with a growl as they refused to come all the way up to her hips. She tugged on a too-small bra and oversized T-shirt. She quickly walked into her small bathroom, turning to the sink to grab her hairbrush and run it through her tangled red locks.

Once she felt that she looked presentable, she quickly moved to her 'living room.' The room was smaller than the bedroom, which meant that it was more of a hallway from the kitchen to the rest of the house. Her backpack was lumped against the wall where she had thrown it the night before. She grabbed the bag, tossing it over her back as she rushed out of her apartment.

"Careful hun," the woman that she had just run into said with a small chuckle. Her face was pale, no smile could be seen on her face, despite the laugh that she had just let out.

"S-sorry," Tara mumbled, her eyes wide and scared.

"It's alright, just be careful," the woman said as she began to walk again, making her ankle-length white hair swish back and forth behind her. Tara felt a panic run through her bones, sitting in the bottom of her stomach as if she had just eaten rocks. She turned back after a moment, rushing on her way to get to school.

* * *

"Hey Witch!" someone shouted, walking up behind her. She stopped walking slowly, shrinking into herself a little bit. She worried her lip in between her teeth as she felt a familiar presence press up against her back. "I see you haven't melted yet. I guess that means you didn't shower this morning."

"I-I-I don't melt," she mumbled, keeping her head down so that her hair fell in front of her face.

He mimicked her stuttering, leaning down over her shoulder to make sure that she heard him. "Why don't you go back to your special classes, special girl," he teased, shoving her so that she stumbled forward.

"Leave her alone," MJ growled from behind the taller, more muscular student. The man whipped around, rolling his eyes as he saw the short woman standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Wow, the thespian lesbians are grouping up on me now?" he shouted, rolling his eyes as he moved away from them.

"Do you even know what either of those words mean?" MJ laughed breathily as they continued into the school.

"I don't think so," Tara whispered, her voice just barely audible over the noise of the students. She was walking so close to her friend that she was practically on top of her, trying to get away from the strangers. "But I k-kind of like that title."

"Me too," she smirked, spinning the code on her locker. Tara turned around, leaning on one of the other lockers as she spoke with her friend. "Maybe I'll take the title for my own."

"O-only if you'll share it w-with me," Tara asked playfully, an amused smile resting on her bright pink lips.

"Always, we Thesbian Lesbians need to stick together," she laughed, placing her backpack inside of the locker. "Speaking of thebians, are you going to try out for the play?"

"I can't, I have work after school," Tara shook her head, making some of her hair fall in front of her face.

"You know you could just stay with me, right?" MJ said, looking up at her friend for a moment.

"I don't want to be a burden," she shook her head again. She tucked a piece of long red hair behind her ear, revealing a small bit more of her pale skin.

"You wouldn't be a burden and you know that," MJ hissed, her eyes narrowing.

"I sh-should really be heading to class, b-bye MJ!" Tara mumbled quickly, turning on her heal and heading down the opposite way to her class.

* * *

"Burn Witch!" someone shouted at her as they passed her by. She felt her heart sink a bit but brushed the words off as well as she could. She continued out of the school, tucking her oversized hoodie around her as she continued to the place that she was meant to be going.

When she arrived in the small alcove of trees, she felt her heart quiver and panic run from her stomach throughout her entire body. The man that had been leaning on the car pushed himself off, walking over to her. "Tara Mikkelson?" he asked, his eyebrows raised and the amusement cut from his voice.

"Th-that's me," she nodded, her voice small and quiet. He nodded gruffly, opening the door for her. She clambered into the car, pulling her legs up underneath her protectively. She wrapped her jacket around her a little bit, looking out the window as she tried to preoccupy herself. She fidgeted, threading the strap of her backpack through her fingers and then pulling it back out again. She repeated the action as many times as she could until they pulled up at the towering building.

Happy returned to the side of the car, pulling the door open for her and explaining, "F.R.I.D.A.Y. will talk to you and ask you to register yourself when we get into the elevator, just a head's up."

She nodded, getting out of the car and following after the much larger man. They walked through the impeccable lobby, where her eyes darted back and forth from the people that milled around. When she stepped into the elevator, she nearly jumped out of her skin as the A.I. spoke to her. "Hello Mr. Hogan, welcome back. Who is accompanying you today?"

"This is when you register yourself, kid," Happy explained, glancing down at her for a moment.

"T-Tara," she stuttered, hoping that the A.I. wouldn't pick up on the stutter and would just register her name.

"Welcome, Tara," F.R.I.D.A.Y. greeted her. "Would you like me to bring you two up to Dr. Strange's floor or the communal floor?"

"I have strict instructions to bring her to the communal floor," Happy answered. The feminine voice let out an affirmative answer and the elevator jerked as it began to force them both upward. "Strange is a nice man, most of the time, you shouldn't be afraid of him," Happy said as the doors to the elevator slid open.

She nodded wordlessly as she walked into the lounge. Everything was a mish-mash of furniture, looking like it had all come from countries, let alone different stores. She smiled a small bit, her hand moved up and down her backpack strap nervously as she looked over the homey room.

"You must be my new pupil," a heavily masculine voice said as he entered into the room. Tara jumped and resisted the urge to walk backward as the man approached the two of them.

"I'll be back in an hour or so," Happy said as he walked back into the elevator.

Stephan nodded at the other man, tucking his hands behind his back as he walked over to the young teenage girl. "I'm Dr. Stephan Strange, and you are…?"

"T-Tara Mikkelson," she answered, stumbling slightly over her words.

"It's nice to meet you," he answered, giving her a curt smile. "Now, if you'll come with me, we can talk about getting control of your abilities."

She nodded, following him down a small hallway and into a large dining area. He sat down on the side of the table, leaving her with the other side that was closer to the door. She collapsed down into one of the chairs, not sure that her legs would hold her much longer with how much she was panicking.

"Alright," he cleared his throat, shuffling slightly so that he was facing towards her. "What do your abilities entail?"

"I-I'm a-a-a W-w," she stopped short, not daring to say the word that had been thrown at her as an insult for as long as she could remember. "I-I can A-Astral P-P-Project myself."

"Astral Projection," he murmured to himself as he jotted it down on a tablet that had suddenly appeared in his hands. "Anything else?"

She shook her head, her heart beating fast as she lied. He doesn't need to know how much of a freak you really are, She thought to herself, toying with the long sleeves of her jacket.

"You are certain?" he asked, a slight warning tone in his voice. She nodded again, trying to keep the panic attack that was bubbling in her chest down to a dull roar.

"Well, then I have a few questions for us to delve deeper into that ability," he continued on with a sigh. "Are you doing it voluntarily?"

"N-no, it j-j-just happens," she explained, her teeth grazing over the chapped skin of her lip.

"Is there anything in particular that you're doing when it happens? Such as a happy or stressful situation?" he asked.

"I-I don't have n-n-narcolepsy," she stuttered, her brows furrowing with anger, which momentarily took over the anxiety.

"So no?" he asked, looking at her with a bemused expression.

"No," she restated firmly.

"How long has this been happening?" he asked, jotting her response down on his tablet.

"S-since I was nine," she responded, her heart sinking down into her stomach as she thought back to the first time that she had been Projected without the consent of her own mind.

"Does it happen regularly?" he questioned.

"N-no," she shook her head.

"How often does it happen?"

"E-every w-w-week?" she shrugged, leaning down and allowing a sheet of bright red hair to fall in front of her eyes. "I-it happens when I-I-I sleep."

"That helps," he nodded, running a hand down the facial hair around his mouth. There was a silence that seemed to last forever, dragging on for an eternity. Tara fidgeted worse than a three-year-old, moving back and forth on her seat and her soft golden eyes flitting around the room, never staying on one place for too long.

"Time's up, I need to take the kid home," Happy said, causing the seventeen-year-old to jump and whirl around.

"If you insist," the doctor, sighed, falling back in his chair. "It was nice to meet you, Ms. Mikkelson."

"N-nice to meet y-y-you too, Dr. Strange," Tara smiled as she followed after the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.


	6. Chapter Five: Saturday

"Tony, you have to come out of your lab eventually," Steve sighed as he leaned against the doorframe that led into his boyfriend's lab.

"But I'm working," Tony almost whined as he turned a screw, which caused the screen in front of him to shift and change.

"Tony, it's time for the Team Meal," Steve said, walking into the lab and wrapped his arms around his lover. "So you have to come or else Tasha is going to hurt you."

"Fine, I guess," Tony sighed as he turned to wrap his arms around his lover. His hand moved to Steve's face, making it easier for him to lean forward and press his lips to his lover's. They stood there with their lips moving back and forth for quite some time, only stopping when someone knocked on the lab threshold.

"You two done having tongue sex? Scott's cooking tonight and Tasha won't let us eat until everyone is up there," Clint said, his arms folded over his chest.

"Fine, fine," Tony groaned, rolling his eyes and chuckling a bit at the blush that covered his lover's normally pale cheeks.

"Good," Clint huffed, turning on his heel and walking to the elevator, taking it before the other two had a chance to join him.

"Rude," Tony snarked once the elevator door closed. Steve snorted, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's waist, pulling them as close as they could be.

"But it leaves me more time to do this," Steve whispered, pressing a kiss to Tony's neck. The shorter man let out a breathy groan, moving his head so that he could give his boyfriend a little more access to his neck.

"I like that," Tony hummed, leaning back into his boyfriend.

"Yeah?" Steve breathed, rocking them back and forth the smallest bit as he continued to press kisses to his neck. He had gotten all the way from the bottom of his lover's earlobe to his collarbone before the elevator popped back open, allowing them to travel down to the communal floor.

"Took you long enough," Clint shouted at them when the elevator dinged, signaling their arrival.

"Not our fault you took the elevator for three minutes," Tony retorted, walking to the table. Clint stuck his tongue out playfully at both of them, causing Natasha to chuckle behind him.

"Sit down, all of you," Bruce ushered them over to the table, where Scott was placing the soup on the table. Natasha rolled her eyes, sitting down across from Hope at the front of the table. Tony took his place at the head of the table, not wanting to have the argument with Thor again. Steve sat at his right hand and everyone else just filled in the table from there.

"Go ahead and dig in," Scott grinned as he sat the last basket of rolls down on the table, leaving a gorgeous array of food out on the long table. The Avengers didn't wait for a moment, grabbing at the food and filling bowls and plates.

"So," Steve started after everyone had gotten their food. "How were the meetings with the kids?"

"Awkward," Scott laughed. "I don't think she liked me much."

"She's powerful and really dangerous," Hope said, stirring her food around the bowl. "I'm glad that they brought her to us when they did, any longer and she could have turned into a villain. One of the most powerful in New York. Or she could have died."

"That's," Tony blew a breath out of his mouth. "No wonder this was such a big deal."

"No kidding," Clint laughed weakly, running a hand through his hair.

Thor looked down at his food darkly, not wanting to speak. "How about you Thor? You certainly didn't stay long with your kid."

"She's going to be quite the handful," he answered roughly before he stuck an entire roll in his mouth to avoid answering any more questions.

"Aren't all teenagers a handful?" Tony grouched, taking another bite of the stew and nearly melting at the taste.

"You didn't seem to think so with your kid," Steve teased, grinning at him mischievously.

"The kid was a massive nerd, even if he was really nervous the entire time," Tony explained with a shrug. "He's almost stronger than Steve."

Everyone stopped, looking at him wide-eyed as the words sunk in. "How is that even possible?" Natasha queried, her face neutral as it always was.

"He said that he had the strength of a spider if it was human-sized," Tony explained. "And he wasn't wrong. He can also climb walls."

"Good Lord," Steve swore. "His poor parents."

"I don't think he was born with them, Steve," Hope explained like he was a child, a poor habit that she had yet to break.

"He said that he got them when he was fourteen," the billionaire sighed, stirring around with his food. "He might have better control of them otherwise."

"Maybe I could come in the next training sessions and train with him," Steve offered.

"I think the kid might have an aneurysm if you did that Caspicle," Tony chuckled, remembering the excited look on Peter's face when he had first met him.

Steve frowned, "Why?"

"Figure of speech," Tony explained. "He seems to be a pretty big fan of all of us."

"That's kind of adorable," Wanda grinned. "What about your student, Stephan? I felt a strong magic coming from her."

"She's more powerful than anyone I've met in a long time, but she has no idea how to handle her power," Stephan said, finishing off his food. "She may be more uncontrollable than Ava."

"I knew these kids would be a handful," Tony rolled his eyes.

"They're not that bad," Bruce shook his head. "They didn't destroy anything while they were here, so they're already better than us on a good day."

"Ms. Potts is downstairs," F.R.I.D.A.Y. called out into the dining room. "She is requesting the presence of her significant other."

Wanda popped up, a bright smile on her face. Her plate had been the only one that did not contain food, which had been a bit peculiar seeing as she had one of the biggest appetites out of all of them. "Bye!" she chirped, rushing out of the room.

"Oh, it's date night," Clint nodded once he glanced at the oversized calendar that was hanging off the wall.

"Didn't they go on a date the last time we had the group dinner?" Bruce asked, a bit irritated.

"I think they did," Scott chuckled, "they're spending a lot more time together than they used to."

Natasha and Hope made knowing eye contact with each other before going back to their food, choosing to remain silent. "They're doing it again, Steve," Sam groaned as he noticed the look that the two girlfriends had shared.

"I told you that there's nothing I can do about it," Steve shrugged, finishing off his food.

"I'm so glad we have these dinners," Tony grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"I am too, Man of Iron!" Thor boomed, still not understanding the sarcasm that Tony was so fond of.

"I don't think that he actually meant that he likes these," Bruce tried to explain to his lover, who only looked baffled.

"Then why did he say it?" the God asked, his voice still ear-splittingly loud.

"And we're done," Tony said, standing up with his plate and bowl. "I'm going back down to my workshop, I have work to do."

"You better come to bed by midnight," Steve shouted after him, his tone stern and not something that you would ever want to argue with.

"Fine, fine," Tony mumbled as he got in the elevator, waving his hand in the direction of his lover.

There was a moment of long-lasting silence as the Avengers finished eating. Scott glanced around the table, seeing that everyone had pretty much eaten all that they would. "Who wants to help me with the dishes?" he asked, causing a large quantity of the superheroes stood up and walked away, giving a plethora of excuses as they did so.

After that moment, only Sam was left. He had a dopey smile on his face as he stared up at his boyfriend, "I can help."

"Thank you," Scott smiled, walking over to his boyfriend and pecking him on the cheek.


End file.
